Question 1

The Master recognises that risk assessments are legally required to be reviewed when there's reason to suspect they're no longer valid or when circumstances have significantly changed — but there's no structured process on board for identifying when those triggers have actually occurred. What should the Master do?

Accepted Answer

Build a clear, structured mechanism for surfacing review triggers — such as linking equipment changes, procedural changes, and near-miss reports to a prompt for reviewing any affected risk assessment — rather than relying on individual officers to remember and act on the legal requirement unprompted The legal requirement to review on specific triggers doesn't enforce itself — without a structured way of surfacing those triggers (equipment changes, procedural changes, near-misses), the requirement depends entirely on individual memory, which is exactly the kind of fragile arrangement the Master should proactively close with a clearer process.

Question 2

A cadet is told that risk assessment on board isn't just one document but happens at four different levels, including something as informal as a quick personal check before starting a task. What are these four levels, broadly?

Accepted Answer

Generic risk assessments (company-level), task-based risk assessments (onboard, specific to the job), toolbox talks (discussing the assessment with those doing the work), and personal/dynamic assessment (an individual's ongoing informal check while working) COSWP describes a four-level structure: generic risk assessments set by the company, task-based risk assessments (TBRA) carried out onboard for specific jobs, toolbox talks that walk the team through the TBRA before work starts, and personal/dynamic risk assessment carried out informally by the individual as work proceeds.

Question 3

An OOW is about to lead a small team in a non-routine, high-risk job — entry into a void space that hasn't been entered in months. A generic company risk assessment exists for enclosed space entry in general. What additional level(s) of assessment does the OOW need before this specific job can proceed?

Accepted Answer

A task-based risk assessment specific to this entry and these personnel, followed by a toolbox talk walking the team through its findings before work begins Generic risk assessments don't capture ship- and task-specific factors at the time of the job — a non-routine, high-risk task like this needs its own task-based risk assessment, with a toolbox talk to brief the team on its findings before starting.